September is BENCHMARK month at CrossFit Aspire! Almost all of September’s workouts will be CrossFit Benchmark workouts.

What is a benchmark workout and how is it different than what we normally do?

On any given week, Justin will put together a series of workouts that he feels would best benefit the general population of our gym. The workouts can be modified for new people, and everyone uses a weight that is a % of the weight they lifted in the strength part of class. Essentially, you are doing your own version of the workout, in a group setting.

A benchmark workout is one that CrossFit Headquarters devised, and is done by the hundreds of thousands of CrossFit athletes around the world. Some of these are named after the original women of CrossFit, back when it was just a single gym out in California. Some are named after fallen soldiers and the workout is CrossFit’s way of honoring their service.

Just like regular workouts, some are long, some are short, some are heavy, some are light, etc. They differ in that instead of using a % of your strength weight, the weights are usually ‘prescribed’. Again, just as in any workout, you are encouraged to scale the weights down to accommodate your strength levels. If you are unsure of what weight to use, please ask your coach!

Why are we doing this?

TO MARK PROGRESS: Benchmark workouts are great for doing just what their name says – for benchmarking your progress. As fun as it is to do random workouts all of the time, it makes sense to repeat the same ones to see how much progress you’ve made.

We will be repeating these workouts in January to see your progress. Over the winter months, you’ll be making progress, getting stronger, doing a 30day nutrition challenge, sticking with CrossFit over the holidays, and we’ll use the re-test to see how far you’ve come!

Since these workouts have been done by other CrossFit athletes before, feel free to look up videos of other people doing the workouts. You’ll be amazed at the human potential to move heavy weight quickly!

TO ASSESS: These workouts will give us an idea of where the weaknesses and strengths of the entire gym lie. This month will give us an opportunity to see if we can make bigger efforts towards working on a few specific skills or movements over the next few months.

TO HAVE FUN & LEARN CROSSFIT: After this month, you’ll be able to carry on conversations with CrossFit athletes around the world, as you’ll all be speaking the same language. If someone comes up to you and asks you what your “Grace” time is, or what weight you do “Jeremy” with, you’ll know how to answer them! This will deepen your knowledge of traditional CrossFit workouts and you’ll have fun doing them!

We hope you enjoy Benchmark September!!

Other Upcoming Awesomeness:

Oct, Nov & December 2013: Assess and improve upon gym-wide weaknesses. Get stronger. Continue to make progress on all CrossFit skills.

January 2013: Benchmark Re-Test month. See how you’ve improved since September.

February 2013: Next SUPERHERO SUNDAY event at the gym! Exact date TBA.

Jan/Feb 2013: Post-holiday diet assessment and clean up.

February/March 2013: CrossFit Games Open. (The first round of competition that leads to the CrossFit Games in July. You’ll be competing in our gym and posting your scores online to see how you stack up against CrossFit athletes worldwide!)

In addition to recently adding 5:30am classes and 12 noon classes to our weekly schedule, we have some GREAT, BIG news!!

The ink is barely dry on the lease, but we couldn’t wait any longer to OFFICIALLY announce that we will be taking over the space next door (currently rented by Daddis MMA) by the end of this year. They, like us, got a little too big for their space, so they are moving into a larger space as we expand our own gym.

Here is a sneak preview of some of the new things that we are planning for the ‘new side’:

On-Ramp classes for Beginners: Beginners will be able to take a multiple-class introduction into CrossFit. These classes will address all of the basic barbell movements, accessory movements, and common conditioning workouts. After this intro period, beginners will be integrated into regular classes. This will ensure a smoother experience in normal CrossFit classes, as our entire CrossFit member community will know the basics. Beginners (those who started within the few months of us opening the new side) will also be encouraged to take the On-Ramp classes as a refresher.

More Facilities: The new side will include two more bathrooms and another shower. That means more opportunities to change and shower directly after class.

No more sharing the space: The kids are really cute to look at, but we want both the adults and kids to be able to use all of the space they need, without worrying about their safety and without having to limit their time on the equipment.

Run club will also start meeting on the new side, to give the entire room to Open Gym athletes on Sundays.

Specialized strength-based programs: CrossFit is an amazingly well-rounded program that creates elite level athletes. Once a person’s conditioning is up to par (which happens through 3x/week CrossFit + sprinting practice), they may choose to focus on getting stronger. Strength happens slowly over time, whereas conditioning can be re-gained in just a few weeks. Throughout the year, we will be offering 8-week strength programs to help athletes focus on their strength to ultimately make them better CrossFit athletes. This strength program is meant to be done instead of regular CrossFit classes. At the end of the program, athletes will return to CrossFit a better, stronger athlete. More info on these to follow!

More classes: As our membership grows, we want the small group training environment and the personalized coaching to remain intact. The extra room will allow us to grow without disturbing the flow or size of classes. Additionally, these other classes might be offered on the hour instead of the half hour, making it even easier to choose a class that best fits your schedule.

Thank you! It is through your dedicated support to our gym that we have been able to make such grand improvements to our gym over the past 2 1/2 years. Working out in the old garage gym seems like forever ago! We appreciate and value your commitment to our gym, and we are thankful that you continue to bring out new people to experience the benefits of CrossFit at CrossFit Aspire.

Superhero Sunday is almost here! Below is all of the info that you’ll need to know.

What is it? Superhero Sunday is our first annual in-house competition. You will complete 3 workouts throughout the event. In addition to competing against the clock and against yourself, you will also be in the running to win “Best” in your gender and level category.

When is it? Sunday, August 26th, 10am. The workout portion of the day will take 2-3 hours, depending on how many people register. More specific timeline will be explained as the event gets closer. Stick around for a post-workout BBQ!

Winner categories are as follows:

Best Female and Best Male, BEGINNER

Best Female and Best Male, INTERMEDIATE

Best Female and Best Male, ADVANCED

How do I register? Write your name on the Sign Up sheets at the gym, hanging on the whiteboards. Please be sure to put yourself in the category that best fits your abilities. You should be able to safely move the weight with good form, and you should challenge yourself. If you are undecided about which category you fit into, please notify Alycia or Justin for suggestions.If you put yourself into a category that we do not think will challenge your abilities, or conversely, is too challenging for you, we will contact you to choose a different category.

I can’t compete, but I’d like to help out. We need judges! If you cannot compete due to an injury, but want to be present and help, please contact Alycia ASAP. We need 1 judge per athlete, and we will run heats of about 8-10 athletes, so the more help,the better!

Row 750 meters, then complete as many push presses as possible with a barbell. The barbell will be on the ground (not in the rack) to start.

Push press standard: Full lockout of arms overhead with ears visible in front of the biceps (hands over shoulder blades). The knees only bend once, to start the movement. The legs stay straight for the rest of the movement.

Clean standard: Weight starts from the ground and is caught at any point of a squat. The weight can be caught high (‘power clean’) or low (‘clean’). The athlete must stand up straight with the weight at shoulder height.

All of these exercises are ones that we practice often at CrossFit Aspire, and that will definitely come up in class before this event.

Looking to fix your clean technique? Join us on Thursday nights at 7:30 for Olympic Lifting class. Spend over an hour each week working on drills and lifts to improve your clean, jerk and snatch.$20/month.

Want to practice the movements? Open gym is Sundays, 10am-12pm. Come in for up to 2 hours to work on any of the movements listed above.

NOTE: Because the movements are simple, your job is to choose a weight level that is challenging, and push yourself as hard as you can. You know these movements. Now is your chance to show what you can do with them.

Just like a calorie is not a calorie, a cheat is not a cheat.

The definition of a ‘cheat’, when it comes to food, can vary from a weekend long bender of beer, pizza and cookies to an extra few handfuls of nuts throughout the course of a day.

-If you are newer to CrossFit Aspire, or the Spring 2012 30-Day Challenge was your first experience with eating only real foods, your cheats might include weekly beer nights, and anything that doesn’t fall under the umbrella of ‘paleo’ or ‘primal’, ranging from the white rice on a sushi roll to the sugar bomb that is a 3-bowls-of-cereal-and-a-pastry breakfast. To you, anything that isn’t ‘real food’ is a cheat.

-The next tier of people draw a line in the sand, and frequently re-evaluate where that line is. They move it a little farther back every few months, tightening things up as they go. First, it might be ‘nothing that comes in the box or bag’, then it might be “no beer’, then ‘no gluten’, and so on.

-Those with more experience or who are trying to lose some fat might consider overindulging on paleo-friendly foods a cheat. Three bananas in one day? Cheat. 3 servings of almonds? Woah now. A whole container of dates? Sugar overload.

-And finally, the strictest group, which is usually reserved for those with autoimmune conditions, those who are serious about gym performance, and/or who have no cravings for ‘bad food’ or alcohol. These people never (or very, very rarely) eat meals that include more than meat, veggies, nuts and fruit. Their intake of food is mostly protein and fat, with post-workout carbs mixed in to keep energy and recovery levels in check. Yes, this includes holiday, birthdays, weekends, happy hours, etc. All the time means all the time.

HOMEWORK #1:

Choose the category of people above that best describes your current habits.

Spend the next month (which is an easy, veggie-friendly, grill-friendly, relaxed month) getting used to living in the next strictest tier of eating. This won’t be easy at first, but it certainly isn’t that hard. Push yourself. Make that change. Stick with it.

* NOTE: If you are very new here and you are looking to make a dietary change, but you have not yet changed your eating habits at all, don’t worry. We’ll be hosting a Nutrition Discussion very soon, where you’ll have a chance to learn more about how and why we eat only natural, real foods. For now, just be sure to read the CrossFit Aspire Nutrition Guide that was emailed to you after you joined!

NOW, onto the real reason I wrote this article. A ‘cheat’ is called such because you are cheating yourself out of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. As you know, diet isn’t the ONLY factor in crafting a sustainably healthy life.

Pick one or two things from this list that you do so commonly that you consider them ‘habits’.

Going forward, consider these ‘cheats’. Every time you do them, you are cheating. Add up these ‘life cheats’ and your food cheats and the sum isn’t pretty. I’ll bet your ‘90% healthy’ lifestyle just got downgraded to a 60%.

I skip workouts regularly.

I do a CrossFit style workout at 90%+ intensity every day of the week.

I’ve been annoyed at someone all week, but I haven’t addressed it yet.

I slept less than 7 hours.

I took a nap or had a cup of coffee after 12pm to keep me going throughout the night.

I have had a nagging pain/ache for more than a few days and I haven’t done anything about it. Foam rolling doesn’t help.

I felt a sharp pain during today’s workout, but I kept going because otherwise my score on the board would look too low.

I worry about things as I fall to sleep at night.

I didn’t cook one meal at home in the past 5 days. I’m ‘doing the best I can’ by making healthy choices at restaurants.

I ate lunch (and dinner) at my desk this week.

I cheated on my reps during the workout to finish sooner.

I said or thought something negative about my body today.

Just like the food cheats, some lifestyle cheats are more serious than others, but surely we can all find TWO things on this list that we consider a habit.

HOMEWORK #2:

Write these two things down, and keep them in your wallet, your pocketbook, your gym bag, stick it to your computer screen, or fridge. The note will serve as a reminder that you’ll need to make a change during your day to avoid that bad habit. In the beginning, just like when you start a diet, you’ll have to concentrate on not doing these things. You’ll have to break old patterns and start new ones. But over time, you will see that it wasn’t so hard to stop those things from happening, and you can start to easily live a healthier life.

As the owners of your gym, we are here to help you get healthy, and we realize that our job does not stop the moment we yell ‘Stop” and the music shuts off. We are here to help you become better, healthier, and happier people, in and out of the gym.

Hopefully this list of habits and soon-to-be ‘cheats’ helped you realize that you can do even better. There is always room for improvement. You’ve got to start somewhere!